I Had To See African Animals

One thing I knew I had to do while in Africa was see some native animals! Jeff and I had some time after getting our tire fixed and found that, with the weather a little drizzly, that there wasn't all that much we could do in Knysna. So, we sifted through the brochures at our little bed and breakfast and discovered a game drive not too far away. I was thrilled! We packed up and headed out to the Plattenberg Bay Game Reserve, which claims to be one of the largest in South Africa.

We arrived to a large iron gate and I knew that we were in for a treat, I was like "Jurassic Park, here we come!" I wasn't let down. The second we drove through that gate there was a hippo crossing sign. Here in the states we have deer or duck crossing signs, but a hippo! I took a picture, I couldn't resist. As we were driving ourselves through the reserve to meet up with the official safari guides we passed a rhino, zebras and all kinds of other things that I had know idea what they were. Oh, it got me excited. We arrived and we were immediately able to hop in with a group that was just about to leave. We headed straight for the giraffes! Oh they were more majestic and beautiful than I ever would have imagined. It was so cool to see giraffes just chilling in the wild. From there we drove through a heard of zebras, the mom and baby pictured below were so adorbale, and headed torward the lions! Just so you know, the lions are kept seperate at this park so they don't hunt all the game on the property or anything. I still can't believe I was like 10 feet away from a lion! We headed off over to the plains and saw a nyala, elund, gemsbuck, red hartebeest, buffalo, bontebok, wildebeest and then we were up close and personal with that rhino. Massive! That thing is huge. Here are some pictures from our adventure, they tell the story best.

What an experience. It is crazy how different the wildlife is in South Africa and the number of species that they have. However, for those of you that know me, I am sure you can imagine, that being up close and personal with all these exciting wild animals got me even more excited for an adventure in South Africa that was soon to come - hunting! Such an amazing adventure during my Life As A Wife.